Laurence Klavan

BIOGRAPHY

I got two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to "Bed and Sofa," the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York. It also received two Obie Awards, five other Drama Desk nominations (including Best Musical), and an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Musical. It was published by Dramatists Play Service, recorded by Fynesworth Alley, and subsequently produced by the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, where it won two Barrymore Awards, and other theaters. It made its London debut at the Finborough Theatre in 2011 and was nominated for five Offie (Off West End) Awards, including Best Production.

Also with composer Polly Pen, I co-wrote the musical, "Embarrassments." It was developed at the O'Neill Music Theater Conference and produced by the Wilma Theater. It is published by Dramatists Play Service.

My full-length play, "The Magic Act," was produced by Ensemble Studio Theater (NY) and published by Dramatists Play Service. I was featured in "Miami Stories: Bellow, Malamud, and Klavan," produced by the American Jewish Theater (NY). My one-acts, including "Sleeping Beauty," "The Show Must Go on," "If Walls Could Talk," "Gorgo's Mother," and "Simprov," have been produced by the Ensemble Studio Theater (NY), Manhattan Punch Line (NY), Working Theater (NY), Actors Theatre of Louisville (KY), People's Light & Theater Co. (PA), Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays (PA), "Brave New World: American Theater Responds to 9/​11" (NY), "Speakeasy" from the Fire Dept. (NY), "Hurricane Season" at the Eclectic Company Theater (CA), "Battle of the Bards" at the Partial Comfort Co. (NY), "Short + Sweet Festival" (Australia), "Museum of Dysfunction" at Mildred's Umbrella (TX), "New Ideas Fest" at Alumnae Theater (Toronto), The LaBute New Theater Festival at St. Louis Actors' Studio (MO), among others, and published by Dramatists Play Service. My one-act, "The Summer Sublet," produced in the EST Marathon, is included in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. My one-act, "The Show Must Go On," was the most produced short play in American high schools in 2015-2016. I've been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and received commissions from the Actors Theater of Louisville, Vineyard Theater and the Wilma Theater.

(My play, The Girl Next Door, excerpts from which are featured in the book, Duo: The Best Scenes for the 90s: Scenes for Two, can be read in its entirety at this web address: www.authorandbookseller.com/​attachments/​THE_GIRL_NEXT_DOOR.pdf.)

I won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. My novel, "The Cutting Room," was published by Ballantine Books as was its sequel, "The Shooting Script." My novel, "I Watch Lois," was published by Pinnacle Books. My short work has been published or is forthcoming in such print and online journals as The Alaska Quarterly, The Literary Review, Conjunctions, Vol. I Brooklyn, Louisville Review, Natural Bridge, Failbetter, Gargoyle, Pank, Stickman Review, Eclectica, Albedo One (Ireland), Frigg, The Dirty Goat, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Playgirl, The Forward, New Theater Review, Straylight, Skive (Australia), Foliate Oak, Killing The Buddha, Cafe Irreal (Czech), SN Review, Brink, Hamilton Stone Review, Conte, Pig in a Poke, Morpheus Tales (UK), Barnstorm, Literateur (UK), Danse Macbre, Urban Graffiti (Canada), Ampersand Review, Flare: Flagler Review, Animal, Switchback, Dark Matter, Litro, Oblong (UK), Thrice, The Singularity (UK), Cutthroat, Storgy (UK), Trop, Eunoia Review, and Projected Letters. My story, "Alert," published in Sliptongue, was included in Mammoth's Best New Erotica 9 and my story, "The Dead End Job," also published in Sliptongue, was in Best New Erotica 10. My story, "The Witness," published in the Erotic Review (UK), is included in Desire: 100 of Literature's Sexiest Stories, published by Head of Zeus. My work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. My own collection, "'The Family Unit' and Other Fantasies," was published in 2014 by Chizine.

My graphic novels, "City of Spies" and "Brain Camp," both co-written with Susan Kim, were published by First Second Books at Macmillan. "Brain Camp" became a Junior Literary Guild Selection and a Scholastic Book Fair Selection and was chosen as one of 2013's Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). The first installment of our Young Adult novel series, "Wasteland," was published in 2013 by Harper Collins. The second, "Wanderers," debuted in 2014; the last, "Guardians," came out in April, 2015.

I wrote the teleplay, "Me and Jezebel," for American Movie Classics and the screenplay, "Disobedience," with director Tony Gerber for Killer Films. My screenplays, "One Bedroom" and "The Un-usual Suspects" were written for Tri-Star and Warner Brothers and "Mr. Nice Guy" optioned by Viacom. My work for children's TV includes "Corduroy" for USA Network and the syndicated "Adventures of Superboy." I was featured in the "HBO New Writers Project."